Wheaton to remove all parkway ash trees

When summer of 2017 rolls around, there won't be any ash trees left standing in Wheaton parkways, if all goes according to a plan recently approved by city council.

At a meeting earlier this month, council members gave their support for the emerald ash borer management plan, which includes cutting down about 5,500 ash trees over the next four years. The entire plan is estimated to cost about $3.4 million for the tree removal.

"As we've seen over the last several years and in the last year in particular, the problems of the emerald ash borer has really exploded," said City Manager Don Rose at a recent meeting.

The invasive bug kills ash trees by targeting the vascular system.

Typically, the number of infestations start to multiply rapidly after the bugs are discovered, Rose said, adding that last year's drought worsened the problem.

"As we all know, this year we are confronted with quite a large number of ash trees that have died and some that are very close to that same condition," Rose said.

According to the approved plan, 728 trees will be removed between now and April 2014, another 975 trees removed by 2015, another 1,905 trees by 2016 and a final 1,904 trees by April of 2017.

The first trees to be removed over the next year are those in the high risk category of falling, city officials said.

Emerald ash borers were discovered in the city in 2008 when there are about 6,400 ash trees in the parkways. Since then, the city has taken down roughly 1,000 trees and spent about $185,000 on removal.

The city has talked in the past about treatment, but decided not to, citing uncertainty over whether it would save any trees and how long it would stave off the infestations.

"I would support very much the city taking on the burden because I think trees are so important for so many reasons for home values, not just the people whose house are in front of," Councilman John Prendiville said, at the meeting. "We've got entire neighborhoods being devastated....they're going to look like new subdivisions now, which is going to hurt the home values tremendously and I think that hurts the city overall as well."

The city's website has a map that shows trees that have been prioritized for removal and can be found at wheaton.il.us.